Salmonella restaurant named

The Lau's Buffet King restaurant in Durham City

A Chinese restaurant at the centre of an investigation into an outbreak of salmonella in the region has been officially identified.

A total of 131 people were affected, and 11 people were treated in hospital after the outbreak during May this year.

Director of Public Health for Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust, Patricia Cresswell, confirmed to BBC Radio Newcastle the restaurant under scrutiny is Lau's Buffet King restaurant in North Road in Durham City.

Environmental health officers said it was still too early to say whether the restaurant would face prosecution and the decision was dependent on the outcome of an investigation.

In a statement they said they were satisfied "effective control measures had been put in place to prevent further cases" at the restaurant, which remains open.

The first thing we had to do was to make sure that we removed any possible health risk to the people of Durham

Durham City Council statement

The first case came to light on 15 May and the last one 15 days later, with environmental health officers linking the cases to the restaurant on 28 May.

In a statement last night, Durham City Council said an investigation into the restaurant was continuing and court action had not been ruled out.

The Durham Health Authority said it was working with a number of other agencies to investigate the salmonella cases.

A statement said: "The investigations into the increase in cases of salmonella infection, as always, are broad and include a number of possibilities.

'Possible health risk'

"A restaurant in Durham City is included in this investigation and are co-operating.

"No formal enforcement action has been taken by the local authority against the restaurant."

Durham City Council said: "The first thing we had to do was to make sure that we removed any possible health risk to the people of Durham.

"We did that by rapid intervention and by checking that any suspect premises had a clean bill of health."

A spokesman for the restaurant said the site had been open for two years and had "a perfectly good record".

A sister Lau's Buffet King restaurant operates in Newcastle's Stowell Street.

A spokesman for the Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust, said: "There is no cause for concern regarding any restaurant in Newcastle."